Where is trenches found?
Trenches are found on the floor of the sea; however, their common name is deep ocean trenches because they are more often found in the deepest areas of the ocean. Trenches are formed in subduction zones where tectonic plates collide.
How many trenches are there in the world?
Globally, there are over 50 major ocean trenches covering an area of 1.9 million km2 or about 0.5% of the oceans. Trenches are geomorphologically distinct from troughs. Troughs are elongated depressions of the sea floor with steep sides and flat bottoms, while trenches are characterized by a V-shaped profile.
What tectonic process formed the Mariana Trench?
subduction
The Mariana Trench was formed through a process called subduction. Earth’s crust is made up of comparably thin plates that “float” on the molten rock of the planet’s mantle. While floating on the mantle, the edges of these plates slowly bump into each other and sometimes even collide head-on.
How does Philippine trench formed?
The trench formed from a collision between the Palawan and Zamboanga plates. This caused a change in geological processes creating a subduction zone, that is dropping the ocean floor deeper. The rate of subduction on these plates is estimated to be about 15 cm per year.
How are ridges formed?
It formed and evolves as a result of spreading in Earth’s lithosphere—the crust and upper mantle—at the divergent boundaries between tectonic plates. The vast majority of volcanic activity on the planet occurs along the mid-ocean ridge, and it is the place where the crust of the Earth is born.
How is a trench formed?
In particular, ocean trenches are a feature of convergent plate boundaries, where two or more tectonic plates meet. At many convergent plate boundaries, dense lithosphere melts or slides beneath less-dense lithosphere in a process called subduction, creating a trench.
What is the biggest trench in the world?
The Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench, in the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest location on Earth.
Why is Marianas Trench deep?
The Mariana Trench is part of a global network of deep troughs that cut across the ocean floor. They form when two tectonic plates collide. At the collision point, one of the plates dives beneath the other into the Earth’s mantle, creating an ocean trench.
Why is the Mariana Trench so important?
The region surrounding the trench is noteworthy for many unique environments. The Mariana Trench contains the deepest known points on Earth, vents bubbling up liquid sulfur and carbon dioxide, active mud volcanoes and marine life adapted to pressures 1,000 times that at sea level.
Which tectonic plates formed the Philippine Trench?
The trench formed from a collision between the Palawan and Zamboanga plates. This caused a change in geological processes creating a subduction zone, that is dropping the ocean floor deeper.
Where is Philippine Trench?
Philippine Sea
Philippine Trench, also called Philippine Deep, Mindanao Trench, or Mindanao Deep, submarine trench in the floor of the Philippine Sea of the western North Pacific Ocean bordering the east coast of the island of Mindanao.
What is the difference between a ridge and a valley?
Ridge (Also: Arete or Spur) – A continuous elevated terrain with sloping sides. Valley (Also: Gully, Draw, Couloir) – Long depression in the terrain that has a narrow elevated side and a wide lower opening. A valley can be “V” or “U” shaped and often can be seen as a “negative” to a ridge.